How bad was Ovrebo

The Norwegian has not been without controversy in his career. Having made his major tournament debut at Euro 2008, he was sent home after two games when he admitted to wrongly disallowing a goal by Italy's Luca Toni against Romania.

Nor has he done English clubs any favours in the past. Ovrebo has refereed English clubs 12 times in European competition and has never once awarded them a penalty. In contrast, he has awarded three penalties against Premier League sides.

One of those penalties came in the first leg of the Standard Liege-Liverpool match in the third preliminary round of the Champions League this season, when Andrea Dossena was deemed to have handled inside the box.

Replays showed the incident actually happened outside the area. As it happened, Pepe Reina saved the spot-kick.

In this season's Champions League he has refereed four matches involving English sides - Standard v Liverpool, Celtic v Manchester United, Villarreal v Arsenal, Chelsea v Barcelona - all four of which have finished in draws.

In those games he awarded nine yellows cards to players from English clubs and just two to opposing players - plus Eric Abidal's red card in the semi-final.

The semi-final was the second Barcelona match that Ovrebo has officiated this season. In the other, Barcelona beat Lyon 5-2 and the French side had seven yellow cards and one red, compared to just one Barca booking.

In his defence, Ovrebo is very popular with players in his native Norway and has been voted referee of the season on five separate occasions.

Michael Ballack led the Chelsea chorus claiming the Blues should have had "four or five penalties", but how many clangers did Ovrebo actually make? We dissect the penalty shouts.

Daniel Alves hauls down Florent Malouda on the edge of the box with the Frenchman falling inside the area. The referee awards a free-kick but no penalty.

Verdict: Replays suggest the foul was committed just inside the box, but even then it is not 100 per cent conclusive. It was perhaps the wrong decision but perhaps an excusable miss.

Eric Abidal appears to tug and trip Didier Drogba in the box but the referee waves the appeal away.

Verdict: Has Drogba ever been told the story of the boy who cried wolf? A stonewall penalty for sure but perhaps years of 'simulation' have finally caught up with the Ivorian striker. It is hard to believe him whenever he goes down.

Drogba storms into the box before Yaya Toure slides in to stop him.

Verdict: Spot on referee! Drogba waved his hands in disgust at this one too but his countryman clearly won the ball.

Nicolas Anelka looks to flick the ball past Gerard Pique but it hits the former Manchester United man square on the hand.

Verdict: Probably not intentional but Pique was very lucky to get away with this one as his arm was outstretched. Most refs would have given it.

Michael Ballack rockets a shot at goal and it seems to hit Samuel Eto'o around the shoulder area.

Verdict: We have seen them given but it is hard to see how Eto'o could have got out of the way - he was turning his back from the ball at the time as opposed to moving his arms towards it.

Chelsea can certainly feel aggrieved that AT LEAST one of those decisions did not go their way, but then again Abidal's red card looked harsh.

Most inexplicable of all though was how on earth did Ballack and Drogba manage to avoid red cards for their ludicrously over-the-top reactions?

All-in-all a bad night for Mr Ovrebo and it is fair to say he is unlikely to be awarded the final.

Do not be surprised if we see him again though. He is a psychologist by profession so should be able to take all the criticism in his stride. Plus he is already on the shortlist for the 2010 World Cup.